Road Test: Nokia Lumia 900 and the Windows Phone Operating System

The Lumia 900 Windows phone offers a unique smartphone experience.

Social media has been slowly making its way onto phones for some time now, from basic mobile apps like Facebook and FourSquare to programs that integrate it into everyday ways you use your phone (like Instagram for easy photo sharing and Words With Friends, for playing games with people you know). The major advance in the Nokia Lumia (and its Windows Phone operating system) is that it integrates social elements into nearly every aspect of the phone. With its surprisingly fun built-in social experience, plus a spacious screen and unique and intuitive user experience, the 900 fit my daily life more than any smartphone I've owned before (iPhone included)!

At the outset, the 900 is what you'd expect from a smartphone, and more. The brilliant 4.3-inch screen is among the largest we've seen, though the resolution isn't quite as fine as Apple's retina display. Plus, it features forward and rear-facing cameras and a simple button layout (home, back, and search). The Lumia is large enough to house the broad screen real-estate, but still sleek.

As a longtime iPhone 4 user, I'm used to the polish and simplicity of Apple's interface. Windows Phone doesn't differ from that much; you scroll vertically instead of horizontally to browse apps and you can "pin" programs you use frequently to create an experience similar to the iPhone's home screen. But when it comes to social, the Windows Phone operating system hits the nail on the head, serving up what you actually want to see, in the way you want to see it. In "People,", you can see a feed of recent posts from all contacts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. There's a view that shows updates from people you've recently viewed or contacted. Plus, when you look up a contact via the People Hub, you're served up pertinent information they've shared in real time ranging from their e-mail and phone number to their birthday, occupation, and address. You can also write on their wall, and view their latest status updates and pictures from there. Without the hub even open, the People "live tile" icon updates on the home screen with profile images and pictures, making for a dynamic, interesting background. Similar to "People," "Messaging" aggregates texts, Facebook chats and messages, Windows Live Messenger conversations and more.

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And what's a smartphone without a fun photo app? The "Pictures" hub syncs with Facebook, allowing you to view your camera roll and albums at a glance and giving easy access to friends' shared albums. A nice touch: The hub pulls up photos at random to serve as the tile icon and background for menus, giving a fun little trip down memory lane every time you look at your phone.

Other apps native to the Nokia Windows Phone are essentially hybrids of what you'll find on other phones, with useful tweaks. Searching for information on a local business? "Maps" won't just pull up its location and phone number; it also serves up its hours of operation, Yelp reviews, and other related apps that might prove helpful (like, say, a tip-calculating app for a restaurant or a wine guide for a liquor store).

While I'm certainly a fan of many of the thoughtful touches on the Lumia 900 Windows Phone, there are still a few annoying quirks I'd be remiss not to mention. Menu options aren't always obvious, and icons are often hidden or hard to decipher. (Deleting something like a picture, for instance, is a bit more complicated than it should be.) I found myself really missing Google Maps too (Bing Maps is not quite as intuitive at the mapping function), and it felt tougher than it should have been to find specific contacts when placing phone calls. Call quality itself is average in general, and the camera pictures aren't the best.

In the time I've been using the 900, I've witnessed plenty of smartphone envy from iPhone and Android users. All in all, Windows' Phone operating system, especially as embodied in the Nokia Lumia 900, is a forward-thinking way of envisioning a smartphone. Though Microsoft and Nokia still haven't perfected the mobile experience, the Lumia offers a unique smartphone experience that's definitely worth checking out.

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